SILAK RAM AND ANR.versusSTATE OF HARYANA

                         SILAK RAM AND ANR.                                      A
                                      v.
                           STATE OF HARYANA

                             AUGUST 6, 2007

                [DR. ARIJIT PASAYAT AND D.K.JAIN, JJ.]                           B

       Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973-Section 154-FJR-Delay in
lodging FIR-Effect on prosecution case-Held: Delay in lodging FIR by
itself would not be fatal to prosecution case unless it is unexplained and such C
delay is coupled with the likelihood of concoction of evidence-On facts,
delay in lodging FIR and in dispatching of the copy of report to Jllaqua
Magistrate fully explained, thus, delay not fatal to prosecution case-Also
evidence of eye witnesses cogent and credible-Hence, conviction of accused
under sections 302 rlw 34 for causing homicidal death of one, justified-
Penal Code, 1860-Sections 302 read with 34.                                     D
      According to the prosecution case, accused N had quarreled with J over
a small issue. 15-20 days later there was exchange-Of hot words between the
accused and J. Thereafter, during midnight, accused S, N and B armed with
weapons inflicted injuries to J. On hearing his cries, J's mother, his uncle
and uncle's son came to the spot and witnessed the incident. Thereafter, E
accused ran away from the spot and J died. There were floods in the village
and the surrounding areas. The distance between the place of occurrence and
the police station was 21 Kms. The statement of J's mother was re~orded on
the next day at 9.40 A.Mand the FIR was lodged at 11 A.M Illaqua Magistrate
received the copy at 7 PM Thereafter, accused were arrested. Recoveries were F
made pursuant to their disclosure statement. Prosecution examined 14
witnesses including 3 eye witnesses. Trial Court relied on the evidence of
eye witnesses and convicted the accused under section 302 read with section
34 IPC and sentenced them to life imprisonment. High Court upheld the
conviction and sentence of accused S and N. However, sentence of accused B
was reduced to imprisonment for ten years. Hence the present appeal.         G
      Appellant-accused contended tha. the evidence of PWs. 10, 11 and 14
cannot be accepted; that PW 10 failed to identify the accused persons; and
that there was unexplained delay in lodging the FIR and in the dispatch of the

                                     849
    850                     SUPREME COURT REPORTS                    [2007) 8 S.C.R.

A   copy of the report to the illaqua magistrate.

            Dismissing the appeal, the Court

           HELD: 1.1. Delay in lodging FIR by itself would not be sufficient to
    discard the prosecution version unless it is unexplained and such delay
B   coupled with the likelihood of concoction of evidence. There is no hard and
    fast rule that delay in filing FIR in each and every case is fatal and on account
    of such delay in prosecution version should be. discarded. The factum of delay
    requires the court to scrutinize the evidence adduced with greater degree of        y
    care and caution. (Para 9) (853-G-HJ

C          2.1. The eye witnesses PWs. IO, 11 and 14 gave a vivid description of
    the events. The evidence of PW 11 was cogent and consistent and the same
    fitted with medical evidence. Therefore, the trial court and the High Court
    were justified in placing reliance on the evidence of eye witnesses more,
    particularly, PW 11. (Paras 8 and 9) [853-E; F, H; 854-A)
D         2.2. It has come on record in the evidence of the Investigating Officer,
    the distance between the areas. Investigating Officer categorically stated that
    there was flood in the areas. In the FIR it was specifically stated that the
    occurrence took place around mid night of24/25.8.1995. The.statement was
    recorded at the Chowk on 25.9.1995 at 9.40 A.M. and was dispatched to the
E · police station. The formal FIR indicated that it was recorded at 11 AM and
    had reached the Magistrate at 7 p.m. It has been stated that the late delivery
    was due to flood in the area and the Judicial Magistrate specifically noted the
   same. The trial court and the High Court rightly accepted the prosecution
   case that the delay was attributable to the flood and there was no dispute raised
   at any stage that there was in fact no flood in the areas in question. The delay
F was fully explained. (Paras 9 and lOl [854-B-DI
            CRIMINAL APPEL LA TE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No. I020 of
    2007.

            From the Judgment and Order dated 22.9.2006 of the High Court of
G Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh in Criminal Appeal No. 296-DB of 1997.                   -1'

            Dr. Vikas Vashishth and Chander Shekhar Ashri for the Appellants.

            Rajeev Gaur Naseem, Rajesh Ranjan and T. V. George for the Respondent.          ·~,:




H           The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
                SILAKRAMv. STATEOFHARYANA[PASAYAT,J.]                             851
      DR. ARIJIT PASAYAT, J. l. Leave granted.                                          A
      2. Challenge in this appeal is to the judgment of the Division Bench of
the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissing the appeal filed by the accused-
appellants. Three accused persons faced trial for alleged commission of offence
punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code,
1860 (in short the 'IPC') for causing homicidal death of Jagbir (hereinafter B
referred to as the 'deceased'). They were convicted by Additional Sessions
Judge (First), Bhiwani, Haryana and each was sentenced to undergo
imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.2,000/- with default stipulation.

      3. Prosecution version sans unnecessary details is as follows:
                                                                                         c
      The accused and the deceased are residents of village Dhanana. Mst.
Bhulan had a son, namely, Jagbir, the deceased, and a daughter, namely,
Krishna. Both were married. On account of floods in the village, 15 days prior
to the occurrence, Prem, wife of Jagbir had gone to her parental house. Due
to hfloohds in th e streetsDohf the vhi11 ag e, Mhst. hBh~lAanhthe comdplJainab~t usedd to D
tet er er catt1e near         annas a1a 8 ra me an s ram an ag 1r use to
sleep near the cattle. On 24.9.1995, at about 9/9.30 P.M., after taking meals,
as usual Jagbir went to the sitting room of accused Silak Ram son of Ram
Bhagat where Narotam alias Raja, Silak Ram and Bijender alias Binder i.e. all
the three accused were present. During conversation Jagbir told one Narender
who was present there that Bijender Singh alias Binder was a cheap person E
and he could commit crime at any time. Narotam had also quarreled with Jagbir
 15-20 days prior to the occurrence over the turmoil created by buffalo of the
fonner. There was exchange of hot words between them and Jagbir, which
attracted Mst. Bhulan. She intervened and brought her son back to the house
and directed him to sleep aside the cattle. Mst. Bhulan in her statement further F
submitted that during night when she woke up to urinate, she heard cries of
her son and, therefore, she ran towards Brahmchari Ashram where her son
was sleeping. Chater Singh (her husband's brother) and his son Ved Parkash
also ran towards that side. They saw in the light of Brahmchari Ashram that
accused Narotam alias Raja armed with gandasi, Bijjender alias Binder armed
with '11hali' and Silak Ram armed with lathi were causing injuries to Jagbir. In G
their presence, Narotam alias Raja gave gandasi blow on the right temporal
region of Jasbir, Bijender airas Binder gave phali blow on the right side of his
chest and Silak Ram also gave lathi blow to him. On seeing the witnesses,
the accused ran away from the spot. When they reached near Jagbir, then
they saw that he had breathed his last. Due to the flood water in the village H
    852                    SUPREME COURT REPORTS                    (2007) 8 S.C.R.

A   and in the surrounding areas of the village and also on account of fear, they
    could not go to the Police Station immediately.

          Ultimately, when they were going to lodge the report, ASI Nar Singh
    met Mst. Bhutan at the crossing of village Mandhal where she got recorded
    her statement (Ex. P.A.) which was completed at 9.40 A.M. on 25.9.1995, on
B   the basis of which FlR was recorded at the Police Station, Bhiwani Khera, on
    the same day at 11.00 A.M. Special report was sentby SI Darshan Lal through
    Constable Devinder Kumar No.579 to the lllaqa Magistrate which was received
    by him on the same day at 7.00 P.M. The distance between the place of
    occurance and the police station is 21 Kms. After sending ruqa, SI Darshan
C   Lal proceeded for the village, got the dead body photographed, prepared
    inquest report, lifted bloodstained earth, a pair of chappel and some pieces ·
    of rori on which he had noticed .blood. He also took into possession string ·
    of cot stained with human blood. He also took into possession bloodstains
    from thresher, trolley and took the same into possession vide different memos.
    He also prepared rough site plan of the place of occu.rrence and recorded
D   statement of the witnesses. He also got conducted autopsy on the dead body
    of Jagbir. On 30.5.1995, he arrested the accused from the bus stand of village
    Dhanana. He got recovered the lathi, shirt-pajjama from the room of a house
    in pursuance of the disclosure statement made by the accused Silak Ram.

          Similarly, in pursuance of the disclosure statement made by accused
E   Bijender alias Binder, he got recovered phalli, the weapon of offence and the
    clothes from the different places and took the same into possession.

           He also got recovered gandasi under a heap of dung from some inhabited
     place, shirt and pajama from different places iri pursuance to the disclosure
F   ·statement made by Narotam and took the same into possession through               •
     different parcels.

          4. On completion of the investigation, challan against the accused was
    presented in the Court. On finding a prima facie case against the accused,
    they were charge sheeted.
G         5. To further the prosecution version 14 witnesses were examined. The
    three witnesses, who were claimed to be eye- witnerc;es were PWs. l 0, 11 and
    14. The trial court placed reliance on the evidence of the prosecution witnesses
    and directed conviction and imposed sentences as aforenoted. Before the
    High Court, an appeal was preferred. Apart from challenging the conclusions
H   of guilt, it was contended that. the accused Bijender alias Binder was a
                   SILAKRAMv. STATEOFHARYANA[PASAYAT,J.J                         853
     Juvenile and was therefore entitled to the protection given under the Juvenile     A
     Justice Care and Protection of Children Act, 2000 (in short the 'Juvenile Act').
     In this case the High Court while considering the various decisions of this
     Court held that at the time of the commission of offence, accused Bijender
     was 16 years of age, and at the time of High Court's judgment was 29 years
     of age. It was held that if he is allowed to be mixed with juveniles the
     apprehension that he was likely to spoil the juveniles more in comparison with     B
     his own reformation. Therefore, he was sentenced to undergo imprisonment
     for ten years. The present appeal has been filed by Silak Ram and Narotam
     alias Raja. The High Court has confirmed the conviction and sentence so far
     as these two accused persons are concerned.

           6. In support of the appeal learned counsel for the appellants submitted
                                                                                        c
     that the evidence of PWs IO, I I and I4 cannot be accepted. In fact PW IO
     had failed to identify all the accused persons and had failed to identify one
     co-accused, Raja. It was pointed out that there was unexplained delay in
     lodging the FIR and in dispatch of the copy of the report to the Illaqua
     Magistrate.                                                                    D
          7. Learned counsel for the respondent on the other hand supported the
     judgments of the courts below.

            8. It is to be noted that the trial court has placed reliance on the
     evidence of eye witnesses PWs. 10, 11 and I4. Even though there was some           E
     confusion in identification by PW I 0, the High Court rightly noticed during
     examination-in-chief she has correctly identified the accused persons. But at
     the time of cross-examination, she only identified one accused. The evidence
     of PW 11 has been analysed by the trial court and the High Court and· his
                                                                                        F
..   version has been found to be cogent and credible. Therefore, the trial court
     and the High Court were justified in placing reliance on the evidence of eye
     witnesses more, particularly, PW l l.

            9. Coming to the stand that there was delay in lodging the FIR and in
     dispatch of the report to the lllaqua Magistrate, this also has been elaborately
     dealt with by the High Court. Delay in lodging FIR by itself would not be G
     sufficient to discard the prosecution version unless it is unexplained and such
     delay coupled w:th ~he likelihood of concoction of evidence. There is no hard
     and fast rule that delay in filing FIR in each and every case is fatal and on
     account of such delay in prosecution version should be discarded. The
     factum of delay requires the court to scrutinize the evidence adduced with
     greater degree of care and caution. In this case the eye witnesses have given H
    854                   SUPREME COURT REPORTS                    (2007] 8 S.C.R.

A a vivid description of the events. The evidence of PW 11 as noted above,
    is 'cogent and consistent and the version gi_ven by this witness fits with
    medical evidence. It has come on record in the evidence of the Investigating
    Officer (in short 'IO') that the distance between Bawani Khera and Bhiwani
    is about 20 k.m. and from Dhanana to Bhiwani is about 18 k.m. and from
    Dhanana to Mun,dhal is about 12 k.m. Investigating Officer has categorically
B   stated that there was flood in the areas. In the FIR it was specifically stated
    that the occurrence took place around mid night of 24/25.8.1995. The statement
    was recorded at Mundhal Khurd Chowk on 25.9.1995 at 9.40 A.M. and the
    same was dispatched to the police station of Bhiwani Khera. The formal FIR
    indicates that it was recorded at 11 AM and had reached the magistrate at
C   7 p.m. It has been stated that the late delivery was due to flood in the area
    and this has been specifically noted by the Judicial Magistrate who has
    reported as follows:

            "Received from constable Devender Kumar at 7 p.m. on 25.9.1995.
            Stated that due to the flood, he reached late"
n         10. The trial court and the High Court rightly accepted the stand of the
    prosecution that the delay was attributable to the flood and there was no
    dispute raised at any stage that there was in fact no flood in the areas in
    question. The delay was fully explained as held by the Trial Court and the
    High Court.
E
          11. Above being the position, there is no merit in this appeal which is
    dismissed.

    N.J.                                                       Appeal dismissed.